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VERY BAD MESS GareriBent Employee Makes Sensational Stat en rat Afoot Taft AND A CERTAIN LETTER StenoRraphcr in Secretary Ballinger's \ Offlcfc jyeclar-^s that l*resident*? letter Exonerating Ballinger wan Substantially Prepared by Man in His Office. There was made public in Washington on Saturday afternoon what purports to be a statement of Frederick M. Kerby, a stenographer In the office of Richard A. Ballinger. Secretary of the Interior, to the effect that he and other stenographers In the department wrote from the dictation of Oscar Lawler, assistant Attorney General for the interior department, a letter wTilch he alleges ' to hare been substantially the foundation for President Taft's letter exonerating Secretary Ballinger from the charges of L. R. Glavis. The Kerby statement further alleges that the original drafts of the Lawler letter were burned in a grate la the interior department, at the suggestion of Don M. Carr, Ballinger's private secretary. The statement attributed to Kerby says in part, t-hat after the visit of Secretary Ballinger and Lawler to the President's summer residence at Beverly, in the week beginning September 5, Lawler returned to Washington and "took up his quarters in Balllnger's private oflioe, calling in Massey and me for dictation." Kerby says that what Lawler dictated referred to Ballinger as "you" In each case, and the personal pronoun "I" was used throughout. From the context the "I" could be no other than Taft himself. "There could be no question," eays the Kerby statement, "that Lawler was drafting a letter for Taft's signature, reviewing the Gla ls charges and exonerating the sec retary. It wsb written in such form thai TaCt might have adt}pted 'it bodily. "As I have eaid, the letter was dictated in Balllnger's private otllce by Lawler. Probably half a dozen drafts were made before the final one was accepted. Each time a fresh draft was completed it would be tak?n to lawler, who would revise it. For two days MaBsey and I did nothing but help rush this work. Dawler frequently consulted E. C. -^1 Finney, assistant to Balliugor." The statement goes on to say that the draft was the subject of several conferences, in which participated, the statement says, "Ballinger, Lawler, Finuey, Commissioner Frederick Dennett, of the land office, Chief of Field Serviee Schwartz, and. I think, First Assistant Secretary Frank Pierce, and Private Secretary Carr." Kerby is quoted as saying: "Without attempting to forco my own conclusions upon any reader of this statement, I want it to be remembered that it waa the draft of the letter exonerating Ballinger in the charges Glavis bus made against him." The statement says further: "Early in the work Lawler had given Massey and myself instructions that all rough draft copies discarded In the composition of the final drafts were to be retained by us. "We all understood from the form of the letter that It was to be the Kfiala r* f Tu ft * r% 1 tor * u W4 ?? ??. a ivwv/i uw?ci tug mo Glavis charges. It was understood by us that this work was of special Importance. "The general arrangement of facts, the order in which tl~ey come in the President's letter is praet.caily identical with the arra'.i.'njfci.rs of facts tn the final Lawler draft, or ho-calbd memorandum." Kerby is quoted as saying "Certain parts of the T.ift loiter I can identity as being in substance the thoughts of the Lawler letter. For instance, there is the passage In the Taft letter, which cer ainly embodies Lawler's thought: 'The general responsibility of Cabinet positions demands the selection, therefore, of men of the highest character and integrity. " 'Possession of these qualities, as well as an ability and experience which have especially fitted you to direct the afTalrs of the department of the Interior, warranted your appointment as Secretary. "In general, Taft softened Lawler's draft, and doubtless very materially changed the wording in that he substituted for certain Ijiwlor nhrtiaoo phrasos of his own, meaning Uie same thing." When newa of the sensational statement Issued by Frederick M. Kerby reached the interior depart meat, an emissary was sent by the department to Kerby, who was off duty, to ascertain the verity of the report. He admitted that the story was true, and that he had issued such a statement. Kerby reported at the department for duty next morning and obtained permission from Private Secretary LAWLER WROTE LETTER PORTION OF WHICH PRESIDENT TAFT USED AS HIS. This Is Shown by Comparison of the Two letters. Notwithstanding I the Dentals. Jt is said in Washington that O3- , car Lawler, assistant Attorney General for the interior department, of w.hlch Richard A. Ballinger is the head, did in fact prepare a draft of a letter addressed to Secretary Bailinger and in such form and phrase *hat it might have been adopted verbatim and signed by the President, as Mr. Taft's exoneration of the Secretary from the charges of L. R. 1 Glavis, and authorizing the dismis- 1 sal of Glavis from his position of , special agent of the interior depart- , ment. , This draft by Mr. Lawler was de- , livered Saturday afternoon to the ( Hallinger-Pinchot committee, and or- , dered spread upon the records of the | investigation. Careful comparison of the Lawler draft with the letter , of the President shows that Mr. Taft did in fact a lopt practically verbatim ( two short paragraphs of Mr. Lawler's language. The substances of the two documents is otherwise wide- j ly dissimilar. Almost simultaneously with the publication of the Kerby statement. Attorney General Wicker sham sent ( to the Ballinger-Pinchot investigating committee, then in session, a copy of the Lawler draft, accompanied by a letter to Chairman Nelson, in which Mr. Wiehersliam declared t.he document had been overlooked In sending the papers requisitioned by tho committee at the request 01 Attorney Brandels. When Ballinger emerged from the conference be showed signs of angry concern, but declared vehemently that th re was "nothing to be nalio ninH r\9 '' "With reference to the published affidavit of P. M. Kerby, a stenographer in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, to the effect that the President's letter of September 13, 1909, exonerating Secretary llalllnger, was substantially prepared for the President's signature by assistant Attorney General Lawler, it was said at the W.hito House Saturday that there is absolutely no foundation for any such statement. The President dictated his letter personally as the result of his own investigation of the records, and consideration of documents and papers in his posession at the tinve, and upon the report to him of the Attorney General." Taft Owns the Corn. Mr. Taft declares not only that Kawler did prepare such a letter as Kerby said he did, but that he hid ' so by the President's specific direc- 1 tion. When he received it he found, he says, that it was not what he : wanted to issue, and he wrote the letter .himself in the form in which he desired it, using from Hawler's draft only one or two general statements. The President -goes still further and takes up the question of the "back dating" of Attorney General ? - ~ ii ><.?r>a>i?ni n a II III III a TJ UI Lilt' liiaVIB charges, to which Attorney IajuIs 1). Brandeis has drawn attention. Mr. Taft says that the Attorney General's letter was in fact "back dated," and that this was also done by his specific direction. Carr to bo off duty Monday. When Mr. Carr was seen Saturday afternoon he said he had nothing to say at the present time, but later, after he had fuller read uhe story, would make reply. <"I made the facts public because I had decided that loyalty to Mr. Ballinger did not justify disloyalty to the country," said Frederick M. Kerby Saturday night. lie added that In view of what he had heard of "snake killing" ho iHsuiued he would be dismissed from the interior department. "If the Secretary of the Interior believes that my statement of facts," he continued, "calls for my separation from the service, tt is up to him. I have only stated the facts. He has said that he wants the publication of all the facts. I have only made by contribution of what he has failed to make public." STTDKNT FOl'N It DEAD. S. O. Fleming, of Davidson, Expired | Suddenly. 1 'At Davidson, N*. C., Mr. Samuel ] O. Fleming, the twenty-year-old son i of 'Mr. and Mrs. J. O. C. Fleming, of ] Laurens, S. C., was found dead in his bed Thursday night. The cause of Jiis death has not been positively ascertained, but It Is supposed to have followed an attack of acute In- 1 digestion. lie went to his room 1 shortly after dinner to take a nap, ' having stood a fatiguing examina- ' tlon in the morning. He was miss- 1 ed from supper and his roommate, seeking to find the cause, entered the room and found him dead. The death of young Mr. Fleming is particularly sad because he was a pros- 1 pecttve honor man of the senior i class of Davidson College, with only two examinations between him and i his diploma. i *. THE DEATH TOLL Mast Be Paid ia the Meter Races at Brifhtea Beach, New Yarh. ONE DEAD AND TWO HURT The Frist Fatality Occurred About Midnight Friday Night.?Another Serious Accident Shortly Afterwards.?Miraculous Bscapew Ordinary Incidents. One man killed and mother painfully maimed and three mors h?Hi? bruised was the record for tho flrst ten hours of the 24 hour race held at the Brighton Beach motordrome track Friday night and Saturday. At the end of the tenth .hour the Flat :ar led with 4 97 milee to its credit and the Rainier was only ene mile bohlnd. The oars, with the Bulck l>alr in the lead, raa without aeriouB mishap until midnight, thus disappointing the argtiries of those who criticised the starting of the contest on Friday, tho Isth. Eighteen minutes after midnight (he looked-for crash came. The Marlon car, drirod by Hubert Anderson, tore through the feace on the turn into the home stretch and turned turtle. Anderson jumped clear of the wreck, hut hi9 mechanician, William Bradley, was so badly mangled that he died an hour later ia the emergency hospital at Coney Island from concussion of tho brain and a fracture of the skull. The second accident happened at two o'clock Saturday morning, when tlie Bulck car No. 2, driven by George Dewitt, crashed tb'ough the inner fence on the turn into the back stretc.h. The driver escaped unhurt, but the mechanician. Jack Towers, sii8talued a fracture of the h"g and internal injuries. Early Saturday morning the doctors at the emergency hospital, said that Towers was resting easy and would probably recover. At 9.50 the driver, sustained a severe injury to one of his legs and Mechanician John C. McGruder cut on 'the shoulder. Tho physicians say the Endlcott will not bo able to continue in tdie raoe. CKEIGHTON'9 APPEAL. Was Xot Passed On by tint General Conference. The following letter from Rev. C. W. Oreigton explains itself: Tho Associated Press dispatch aont j am rroni Ashevllle, statiug that the committee of appeals by a rota of 13 to 6 sustained tha decision of the South Carolina aonfaranca which tried the complaint* against me in '06 was erroneous. My appeal t? the general conference waa not heard and, hence, the questions involved in tlie case were not passed on by the committee of appeal. The bishop held that as 1 had preached since I took th? appeal I had forfeited the ri?.ht to appeal. Iu this view he succeeded in .having a majority of the committee agree with him. The report of the committee waa as follows: "Your committee on appeals has had beflore it the appeal of C. W. Creighton of the South Carolina conference, and the appeal was disallowed. Eugene R. Hendrix, "R. A. Meek. President. "Secretary." This leaves the issues involved just where they were four years ago. I hope the papers which published the dispatch sent out from Ashevllle will also publish the statement that the true facts may appear. C. W. Creighton. IX>ST HIS FAITH I.N WOMEN. I'nlontown Merchant Will Not Wed J list Now. Gannon Thomas, 51 years old, a merchant of Unlontown, Pa., who procured a license to marry Carrie Belle Itrown, a widow 42 years old. returned iho license, saying that it was worthless, as the widow had flown after persuading him to buy her trouseau and advance her a goodly sum of money. The courtship :overed 12 hours. She said she was going to the hotel, but instead was speeding to Pittsburg| "I will trust women no more," he added. "One I had to work for me at Unlontown ran away with $50#, but this one has almost broken my heart." Kills Girl and Self. John Going shot and instantly killed his sweetheart, .^llss Baton, Sun lay In Amherst county. Virginia, because .he found the young woman driving with his brother. He then turned the revolver upon himself. His wounds will probably prove fatal. Perish in Flumes. At Faribault, Minn., Hert Sperry, hia three children, and their grand mother were burned to death in a fire whlcii destroyed their home Fri day. Mrs. Sperry and two children wero saved. * EAGLES ATTACK MEN ark despkratk while forag^^g for their young. Attack* on Lite Stock Are Becoming Preqnent in the Northwest and Bird* Are More Numerous. Kaglee. now bUBy gathering food for their young, are creating no end of fear iu the Northwest. Scarcely a day passes without reports of attacks upon men. women, children or upon th? smaller animals of the farms. It is said more eagles are uestine anions the crags of the Cascade and Olympic mountains than ever before and that the reason for their presence is the increased numbers of lamtts. pigs, dogs, eats and poultry. Many of the big birds hare been shot, but few farmers will shoot to kill unless the giant birds beeonae too bold. 'Maddened eagles attacked and tore the flesh of Oeorge Hartman, a hunter. in the vieinity of North Yakima, Wash. A day later a wtage driver was attasked as he sat oa the seat of his coaeh and was driving toward Hartford, Wash. His face was badly torn by the bird's talons. Farmers near Hrlnnon declare the thieving eagles are causing them great loss among their young stock. A big rooster in Mason eounty is reported to have given battle to a small eagle and to have beaten off the marauder. In all parts of the country eagles are said to be swooping down and carrying away many ducks and geese. (Farmers in the vicinity ef Blaine report having seen eagles carry off two-davs-old lambs. In oue pen the flapping of their wings caused such terror that the sheep rushed from their enclosure and 15 were drowned in a nearby stream. Near Enumclaw. a young eaglet fell from Its nest 300 feet into the valley. Children passing the place were set upon by the old eagles and driven to their homes. The birds were routed by the firing of shotguiiB as they circled over the houses. In the Cascade mountains on the Pacific slope great inroads are being made on the pigpens, and near Seattle, Wash., one eagle was killed while trying to capture a dog in the city pound. TWO I>EA1> IN' PISTOL DUEL. llow Over tlio Closinn; of Saloon Kodit Fr-Uuly. As a result of n duel between Daniel Hanson and his 9on. on on* hind, and Policemen Hiers and Amnions, on the other, the elder Hanson a?.i Policeman lliors are dead, a worn in ompantou of Hanson ae-'aualy wounded and |iarry Hanson is in jail, charged with murder. The flght was ca -si ( Policvatam Amnions attempting to el)r* Jiansoa's saloon, which was in operation alter .hours. Aftf-r everything else aad failed, the policeman sl-irt J to clufc the < ldor Hanson, when his son fired the first shot, shiiier.a,; Amnions' hand. The policeman i.sec drew his re' olver aad coir.lt.eics' sho ?tini; Qred six shots at Hanson, everyone taking effect. Policeman Hiers. attracted liy the reports, came up ami was shot through the heutl by the younger Dans).). * ODD i'KLLOWM KLKCT. Wade Hampton ('ebb, of Columbia, Is Next IKiputy Oram! Master. The grand lodge of South Carolina Independent Order of Odd Follows adjourned Thursday morning arter a two days session at Spartauburg, the most satisfactory and the moBt largely attended In its long history of seventy seven years, to meet next year in Greenville. The election of officers at the morning session resulted as follows: Grand Master, Wade Hampton Cobb, Columbia; Deputy Grand Master, James G. Long, Jr., Union; Grand Warden, James H. Craig, Anderson; Grand Secretary, S. F. Killingsworth, Columbia; Grand Treasurer, H. Endel, Greenville. OFPFIOKK KILLS WATCH EH Of a Negro Gambling lien at lHirhum in Self Defence. At Durham, N. C., In a gnn conflict Friday night, Policeman W. A. Cobb shot and Instantly killed Tom Hawkins, a desperate negro, who barely missed blowing Sergeant Pendorgrast's head off with a shotgun before dropping dead from Cobb's pistol shot. The officers were raiding a gambling den which Hawkins seems to hare been guarding. When they appeared two women cried out, "Pol'cemens is in the house." The negroes ran like rats. lloblxHt the Passenger*! At Seattle three highwaymen held up a "pay as you enter" street car on the South park line of the Seattle Electric company Thursday morning and escaped wit^t money and oth| er valuables estinn ted at between $1,500 and $2,000. Their victims J were twenty male passengors. / I . GOT TM HOT " And tbe Bud #f Robbers Fled Fron tbe Citizess aid Police. SAFE BLOWERS WORKED While Their Ix?dfrs Fought (XT the di dtlzens Who Attempted to Stop Tliem, Having Been llroiight to ^ * in he Scene by the ISzpIoeion Wlilch ec d< Wrecked the Post-office. tj, A gang of robbers In endeavoring d< to rob tho postoffioe at Scottsburg. g( Ind., on Saturday practically wreck- n ed the building and fired nt citizens et who had boon aroused by the ex- w plosion and escaped without, it is ?' believed. securing any money. Posses were quiokly organized and sent in in pursuit. hi' 1V Fire alarm there are sounded by ' oi revolver shots and in response to a S( fusilade the whole t\??vn turned out v< to Qnd, not a house ablaze, but a en band of safe blowers busy with the ?' strong box at the poBtotllce and exohaugiug bullets with meu iu a hotel across tho street. K< Y< lis of the robbers and redoubled shots kept the crowd back for a ,r while, but it grew and surrounded " the i>oBtoflico building, the robbers lost their uerve, dropped their tools ' and tied Into the darkuess. They ' j had not yet cracked tiie innermost li vault. The robbers blew off the door of the safe with nitro-glycerine and the explosion jarred the hotel and awakened the men asleep there. TJie " guests that had revolvers shot from 11 the windows and doors. One of the robbers, evidently the chief, was stationed in the street. He stood his ground and fired rapidly in return, calling to his comrades: "Get the money quick or I'll blow your brains out." As the street began to fill with ? people it was this man that gave the order for the retreat. n,1 _ tb 1>RAGGK1> TO DEATH. N tb Most Horrible Fate That llefell a ol Bright Young Boy. ^ Anthony Howard, the 13-year-old "1 son of Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Howard of ^ Pink Hill Township, Lenoir county. cj N. C., met a most horrible death in a runaway Saturday afternoon while gI riding a mule from the field to the m house to g*t shelter from an ap- cc proachlng storm. d< The lad was ploughing in the fG field a half mile from the house, and si seeing the storm approaching, ho hastily unhooked the mule from the cc plow, threw the trace chains across jn the mule's withers, mounted and ol started home The mule shied and p( threw the hoy off. h< The boy's legs became entangled hi in the chain, which held him fast, is This frightened the mule and ho ran away, dragging the entangled boy along tho woods road which was full of roots and stumps. Thus dragged along young Howard's head and body were dashed against the ground, roots and stumps until life was extinct. His skull was crushed in sexeral places and the bones of the tl upper part of his body were broken. To add to the horror of the sltua- h tlon the young boy's mother, seeing d, the mule coming dragging her eon. ran to render him assistance, but a was powerless to do so and the panic hi stricken mule dashed by her and 0| leaped the fence, with tho boy dang- a liiug to the plow chains. i,i mm* b< THBEK MKN KILhKI). h< Ity the Accidental Explosion of a w gi Powder lllast. H 01 At Copper Hill, Tenn., three men j were killed and considerable damage p( dona throughout tho Ticlnity, is the cj Vecord of an explosion which occurred at the furnace of Kershaw Brothers, of Atlanta. The dead are: Engineer Greene, Atlanta; Craneman Cook, Atlanta; Laborer Abe Dlllard. Copper 1HU. The accident resulted m from tho striking of an unexpected ar re blast of powder by the teeth of a steam shovel. d< Hilda His Lifn. b*I A man about twenty-flve years old, committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid Sunday morning, on the northbound Missouri, Kansas and fr Texas Railway "flyer," shortly after tho train left Temple, Texas. A s( leather cigar case was found on the ^ body with the name C. J. Smith, OI and a railroad ticket from San An.onio to Kansas City. Loved tlie King. At Minneapolis Mrs. Sarah J. P. Mobley, aged 70 years and reputed T wealthy, is dead, according to Cor- gc oner Seashore, of heart failure cans- II ed by reading of the death of King ai Edward. "King Edward is my ideal w of a man," she often said to her ! d neighbors. j P "wiugoITAIONEIAITISTS AGAINST MERGLNG Hf MISSION WORK. orihern Baptists Want Souther* Baptists to Help Them Help tbe Brother in Black. Home missions furnished one hundred topics for consideration at Frlay's session of the Southern Baptist onventlon, now in session at Baltlore. The Rev. Dr. Burrows report1 that there was a general increase iring the past year of $1 1 4,000 for le home and foreign mission hoards. Tho board of home missions enirsed strongly the policy of the nithern Baptist Convention of havg no "entangling alliance" with oth Christian bodies that can in any ay endanger the Baptist doctrines practices as Baptists. This utterance referred specifically i the labors of the Doard iu Panama and Cuba, where It was Btated lat the work was progressing rapid, but that difficulties in the way ' the work of both the Sunday:hool8 and other phases have dedoped in the trend toward# "boilled church union efforts and the diteration of denominational lines." "We report." th? l>oard adds, that ie lives of professing Christians who i to the Canal Zone for money-maktg are a hindrance instead of a help ? the Baptist church. Then, too, ie efforts of some Cnristian workers i discredit denominational work in 10 interests of an undefended Chrisan union are adding to the difliculos of our missions." The report, though not stating leciflcally, was aimed at Uie Young en's Christian Association, accordig to a statement by the Rev. E. C. argan, of Macon, Ga., member of ie Cuba and Panama committee, fter the session he said: In Cuba and Panama the Y. M. C. . stands for undenominational premutation of Christ; the Baptist huroh has always, and will always, and for the Baptist presentation, do not mean to speak disparagingly ' the Y. M. C. A. I only mean that ie Baptist Church ought not to erge with anybody in work among ie missions." 'An appeal from the Baptists of the orth. asking that their brethren of ie South aid them in tuklng care ' the negroes, created a stir in ie Convention. The matter was rerred to a committee and will come ? later for discussion. The communication came from the merican Baptist Home Mission Soety, headquarters in New York. It iclared that two-thirds of the no o Baptist ministers have had no ore than the merest rudiments of a immon school education, "and are jplorably deficient in qualification >r spiritural edification and leaderilp." The Northern societr d??ir.-?a -operation of the Southern Baptists the management and maintenance ' its schools in the South and projses the establishment of a num:>r of summer schools there for the sneilt of the negro Baptist mintry. Bt.lliT OOMJCT I'lUfOF CAVK. uliforniun Expects to Bo Earth's S?lo Survivor. When Halley's comet approaches le earth StepJien Barter, of Pasaena. Cal., is likely to he the only uman survivor, according to his eclaration. Barter, who is a gardner, has dug cave in his back yard, w.hich he as stocked with canned goods and ther provisions and provided with system of ventilators, controlled Y strings leading to the inner cliam?r. There he will hide when the eavenly wanderer comes. Barter believes all life on earth ill be snuffed out by the deadly ases which compose the comet's tall, e does not propose to he snuffed it, and each nigJit he retires to id in the inner chamber, the strings mtrolllng the ventilation hanging oho behind his heud. Two Will <Jo. Adjutant General Doyd was aulorlzed Friday to send two reglents to the encampment at Chicnauga. The 3d regiment has alady been designated.* It is opMonwith tho 2d regiment between An* ;rson and Chicamauga. The 1st giment will go to Greenville or tartanburg. Fell Between Gars. While returning to Dawson, Ga., om a Sunday school picnic to Coimbus, J. H. Armstrong was Inantly killed when he fell between ie cars when trying to pass from 10 coach to another. Portions of ie body were strewn along the track r a considerable dlstaree. Married His Grandmother. William Pounds, of Hoflln, Ala., hursdav married Mrs. John T. Rur>ss. who Is legally his grandmother. urg?'ss was Pounds' grandfather, ad was over seventy years of age, hen he married several years ago, ying shortly afterwards. Mrs. i 'uunds is now twenty-two. , ja jM 0jm